A contest with a pot of 10 STEEM + 4 @steembasicincome shares? You're in the right place!

222 @steembasicincome shares awarded till now, plus 22.558 SBD and 134 STEEM, through the contest in 47 weeks!

What awaits within the Bananafish treasure chest?

1st place: n. 5 STEEM

2nd place: n. 3 STEEM

3rd place: n. 2 STEEM

popular vote: n. 2 steembasicincome share (remember to vote your favorite!)

Best comment to the stories: n. 2 steembasicincome shares

• We vote 100% at $ 0.14, we are growing steadily and we are - while I'm writing - at 4,580.58 SP. This is thanks to all the delegating members and to the recent further support from @brisby (300 SP per 3 months) and @agmoore who donated to us 20 SBI (happy birthday and rivers of grog for you, proud bananafishian!).

• Our offer is growing! From April, our one-thousand-stories lady @calluna will move her renowned "Tell A Story To Me" contest under the potassium flag!

• Our flash contest "A book that changed your life" is revealing itself to be a real crowd-pleaser. You're still in time to tell us about that unique book (Necronomicon is not accepted).

• I and the core members are team-working/brain-storming/brain-farting on so many ideas: the partnership with @crowdmind is flourishing (remember to vote the @crowdwitness as your Steemit witness!). / We started curating and voting worthy fiction writers around the platform, ok we're not curie but it's still nice to receive a manual curation and a vote :-) / The community is on the right track for a real crowdsourced writing Eden if we all want this!

@theironfelix: Comrade Prof. Dr. Victor here, gotta go now strangers and sell some wares. So watcha buyin’ stranger? Cal?~

@calluna: I am hoping to get a double chocolate wonder brownie packed with imagination, extra chunks of the unexpected and a huge blob of go-team icecream on the side. With lots of sprinkles. Maybe a whole tray.

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Map of the Bananafish Realms from a squirrelly perspective!

• Share the love and tell a friend about the contest!

• Join the Bananafish Realms discord chat for fresh updates and other amenities.

• Vote, vote, vote your favorite story in the comments below!

• Use the #finishthestory tag.

• Try to post your story as early possible and not at the last moment (or after the results! argh!) to give people chance to read yours before they vote

• Respect the dreadful 500 words limit! o_0

• Help our contest & workshop to grow by giving it some visibility and consider linking back to this post in your entry.

Without further ado, good luck, brave storytellers. Always forward, straight into the mouth of the Leviathan!

The Extraordinary Café

^{by @theironfelix (and @calluna)}

The warm smell of fresh brownies drifted across the cafe, ducking under the tables, squeezing through chairs, urged on by the fans; it flew. A gooey batch, chocolate chips still soft, had appeared on the counter. So loudly rang the placing of the tray, that Matt’s eyes glanced over, his mouth already watering, and so the enticing aroma managed to make him half consider ordering two.

Over Matt’s head, a clock's hand ticked a steady background beat, drawing his attention. For all wandering eyes, it was ten to two; she was twenty minutes late. A huff of impatience escaped his cracked lips, his mind drifting back to the crowded room.

An elderly man sat slouched at the table across from him, his broadsheet newspaper out of place in a room full of faces glazed by the light of phone screens. Matt‘s hand instinctively touched his own in his pocket. If he got it out, his eyes would be glued hard to it, in case the light flashed. His mind knew it would vibrate, but the flash came first. It was an addiction he couldn’t fight. Not to the phone. To her.

His mind buzzed and beeped, unable to fight the itch of wonder…

“...where was she?”

The old man‘s mouth let go of a cough, accompanying the symphony of crinkling as he flipped a page. Matt’s eyes darted up, accidentally catching his gaze, the man smiled at him eagerly folding the paper away.

Matt’s mind shuddered, cursing itself as the man rose, heading towards him. As soon as the stranger came within ear shot, Matt called out trying to put him off.

“Sorry mate, i’m waiting for someone.”

The grin over the worn face widened.

“Someone who still ain’t here yet, ‘ow about a bit of company, to help with the waiting? Whatcha say?”

Put on the spot, Matt’s thoughts already ablaze, he found himself nodding before reason could interject. The flame in his mind was inundated with worries and the urge to call her now - to see where oh where she was. Matt didn’t have the patience for small talk, but it was too late; the elderly man was lowering himself into the chair opposite.

The chair eeking with the slow applying pressure of aching joints, a wry smile found itself on the old man’s lips. In the opposite side of tension: a forced smile began forming on Matt’s dry lips, his hand quivering but extending for an introduction.

Let’s grow together!

The wise pectin-packed Bananafish wants all of its beloved people to benefit from rich upvotes. The more of us join the trail or delegate SP, the more our vote on your entries is worth.

Unity is strength, if you would like to contribute to the cause, click here to delegate 25 SP, 10 SP or find out here how to delegate an amount of your choosing!

Following the voting trail is an effortless way to make sure you always support the other participants to the Bananafish contests, automatically upvoting the posts (but not the comments) @bananafish upvotes. It only takes a few minutes to join, you can find all the instruction on how here. So check it out and make the most of your voting power while supporting your fellow bananites!

Let’s raise a glass to @foffelius, @steelochlaver, @f3nix, @marcoriccardi, @anixio, @gwilberiol, @calluna, @ntowl, @dirge, @seesladen, @theironfelix, @letalis-laetitia, @vdux, @felixgarciap, @tristancarax, @khasa, @stever82, @brisby, @drazeus, @robinsonr810, @michaias who are already in the trail.

Join the fun! Here is how this contest works:

• An unfinished fiction story or a script is posted.

• You finish it with your own post or a comment in the comment section. A limit of 500 words is recommended.

• WIN 10 STEEM + 4 @steembasicincome shares to the writers with the best endings and comments.
  
  

GOOD LUCK, BRAVE STORYTELLERS!